Toy drive for monkeys

Alexandra Chambers, a sophomore at Trinity University, studied Golden Bellied Mangabeys (Dexter and Doobie) for a report on Human Evolution. Chambers studied the handedness of the monkeys to determine whether they were right handed, left handed or ambidextrous.

Everyone gets hit up for the occasional canned goods drive or angel tree gift, but a toy drive for monkeys?

Jennifer Mathews, an anthropology professor at Trinity University, is taking donations of used sheets, towels, dog toys, stuffed animals, perfume, and the cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels for the primates at the San Antonio Zoo to use an “enrichment,” a fancy word for stuff to keep them from getting bored.

Zookeepers make hammock swings out of old sheets and hide treats in the paper towel rolls to give the animals a puzzle to work out. When their minds are not active, the monkeys often pace back and forth and exhibit other obsessive behaviors, Mathews said.

Once, a wolf guenon got so attached to a stuffed soccer ball, zookeepers had to pry it from his hands to replace it after it got all grubby.

Mathews and her students have grown attached to the monkeys over years of research projects that involve observing primate behavior.

Students often raise money to help with the animals’ care, or bring their parents and friends to visit the monkeys, some years after graduating.

Full disclosure — I am one of those dorks who visited the zoo several times after graduating from Trinity in 2000.

I waved at the black mangabeys I observed for a human evolution class, certain they recognized me. Brought my parents. And my boyfriend.

If you have something for the primates, bring it to Mathews in the Cowles Life Sciences building, Room No. 326 before April 1. To contact Mathews, e-mail her at jmathews@trinity.edu.